China rebuked on Monday CNN's latest report on the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region as being based on inaccuracies, and it asked Western media to honor their reputation and stop citing false sources in their reports.
"Accuracy is the lifeblood of news reporting," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular news conference in Beijing.
In the CNN piece on Monday, a Uygur woman, Mihrigul Tursun, claimed that one of her sons died in a hospital in Urumqi, Xinjiang, in 2015, and she claimed she had been detained by local officials for three months in that year.
She told CNN she was never given any reason why her children were admitted to the hospital.
"This is absolutely not true, and it is a lie with ulterior motives," Hua said.
Instead, Hua said, the local government has verified that Tursun brought her son Muezi to Urumqi Children's Hospital to receive treatment for ailments on three separate occasions in 2016. Records show that Muezi left China with his parents in April 2018.
They also show Muaizi, another of Tursun's sons, left China for Turkey with Tursun in January 2016, Hua said.
Regarding the detention, Hua said, Tursun was placed in custody on April 21, 2017, on suspicion of inciting ethnic hatred and fomenting discrimination. She was released after 20 days due to her contracting an infectious disease.
"It is impossible that she (Tursun) would have witnessed nine people dying in a crowded cell with more than 50 other women as the (CNN) report said," Hua said.
In late November, Tursun traveled to Washington to tell her version of events to the United States Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
"It is unacceptable that the US side defamed the Chinese government and its ethnic policy based on a story fabricated by a liar," Hua said, urging the US to stop its "ridiculous" moves.
The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2018 commits the US government to pursuing economic sanctions against a number of Chinese officials Washington deems to have committed violations.
